Fountain marking device with work operable valve



Jan. 13,1953 J. o. *SOLDNER 2,624,902

FOUNTAIN MARKING DEVICE WITH WORK OPERABLLE VALVE Filed March 9, 1949 2s INVENTOR.

' clicn 0, Guam/5R A T TORNYJ Patented Jan. 13, 1953 FOUNTAIN MARKING DEVICE WITH .WORK OPERABLE VALVE Jack 0. Soldner, Willoughby, Dhio Application, March 9, 1949, Serial No. 80,425

2 Claims.. (Cl. 15-139) The inventionrrelates toa coloring or marking device, and more particularly to a device of this character using liquid colorin material, the flow of which is controlled by the user, as will appear. For convenience, in the present specification, the device will be referred to as a marking pencil of fountain type.

An object of the invention is to provide a marking pencil which can be made from a few simple readily obtainable parts, so as to sell at a desirably low price, which is easy to refill and to operate, which can be operated by a child, and which can be readily disassembled for cleaning at suitable intervals.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a study of the following specification, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1' is a view of the marking pencil in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the pencil; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views taken respectively on the lines. 33 and l-A of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, the pencil has a cylindrical body comprising a tubular barrel l and a nosepiece II which constitutes a front end extension of the barrel. The nosepiece II and barrel H] are retained in juxtaposed alignment on an intermediate plug 12 which may conveniently be of resilient or rubber-like character for tighter frictional engagement, the barrel and nosepiece being telescoped on the plug by a manually forced fit. The nosepiece and barrel may be of difierent inside diameters, in which case of course the plug has an external shouldered offset, such as the slight ofiset shown at I3 in Fig. 2. Such offset assists in aligning the nosepiece, in assembly, so that the valve and wick members, to be described below, are disposed in proper operative contact, as will appear.

The plug l2 has an axial bore M which carries a valve stem l5 of somewhat reduced diameter with relation to the bore so as to provide annular clearance around the stem for the passage of coloring fluid. Such coloring fluid is contained in the reservoir l6 of the barrel l0. At its upper end the valve stem carries a valve head I! seatable downwardly on the top of plug I2. The lower end of the valve stem extends below the bottom face of the plug, and has attached thereto a spring-retaining collar l8. Between said collar and the plug is a helical compression spring l9 which is normally biased to maintain 2 valve head H in seating engagementwithathe pl g.

The nosepiece l iris hollow, and has an interior conically inclined shoulder 22 ending in anaxial bore 23. The bore 23 is adapted to carry a. wick i l in sliding frictional engagement in the bore.

Preferably, and as here shown, the wick is gripped.

in a sleeve 25 which has a number of longitudinal slots at 26, through a part of its length, so as to provide wick-gripping fingers 2'! which may be contoured to serve a double function, namely to grip the wick and also to provide sufficient frictional engagement with the inner wall of bore 23 to prevent the wick and sleeve assem.-. bly from falling out.

In use, the wick andsleeve are pushed in-. wardly into bore 23 until the upper end contacts" the lower end of the valve stem ES.

The upper end of the barrel [6 is-provided with a cork'or similarly. functioning closure 29. The closure has a vent which here comprises communicating longitudinal and transverse passages 30 and 3i which permit air flow between the atmosphere and the reservoir it. As here shown, the longitudinal passage 38 has a sleeve 32 which prevents stoppage of the passage 36, if the closure is pushed in too tightly. The closure must of course. have sufiicient downward convergence of the walls so that the ends of thetransverse passage 31 have clearance from the inner wall 'of barrel Iil'. A simpler vent could be provided by means of a straight drilled opening running all the way through the cork from top to bottom face thereof.

Operation of the device is as follows: Closure 29 is removed, and liquid coloring material (usual- 1y supplied with the device) is poured into the barrel reservoir It. The valve head I! is seated, and no liquid passes through the annular passage between valve stem I5 and bore [4. A wick and sleeve assembly is inserted in bore 23. A moderate pressure on the wick is communicated to valve stem l5, and the valve head I! is unseated permitting some coloring liquid to trickle through bore I i into the working chamber 33 in the nosepiece. The wick quickly becomes saturated, and can be used to apply the coloring material in any desired way. The contour and texture of the wick can of course be varied for different effects. The spring tension is so regulated that normal writing or colorin pressure does not unseat the valve, but a moderate increase over normal pressure replenishes the working reservoir 33.

The device may be sold in multiple sets, for

example six in a box, the barrel or nosepiece being suitably colored to identify the color Within. If desired, of course, the barrel may be made from a transparent organic plastic material so as to permit direct visual examination of the amount and color of the liquid in the barrel.

An outstanding advantage of the structure resides in the fact that the pencil is assembled from a relatively small number of simple, readily available parts, and since a substantial percentage of total production goes for juvenile educational and recreational uses, the low cost resulting from the simplicity of construction and assembly is especially desirable. The barrel is a simple piece of tubing which can be bought in standard lengths of stock in plastic, metal, or other material. The top end closure can be a simple cork. The intermediate plug can be a cylindrical block of any material, resilient or otherwise, provided a tight frictional fit is obtainable between the plug, the barrel, and the nosepiece. The nosepiece can be machined from plastic or metal stock, or formed by a simple upsetting operation from a metal blank when needed in large quantities. Insertion of the wick,

originally or as a replacement, can be done by a child. No previously available fountain type pencil has these advantageous structural features.

When the slots 26 in sleeve 25 open downwardly from the top end of the sleeve, as in the embodiment here shown, they permit easy access of the coloring liquid to the wick, and, sleeve 25 being of spring metal, the spring fingers between the slots serve to transmit valve-lifting force to stem l5 when moderate pressure is applied to the outer end of the wick 24.

What I claim is:

1. In a marking device of fountain type comprising a cylindrical barrel formed from a length of smooth tubing open at both ends and having a removable closure for the upper end of the barrel, the combination therewith of a generally smooth cylindrical removable plug having an upper part inserted in the lower end of said barrel and of a diameter frictionally engaging said barrel so as to enclose a reservoir space within said barrel, said plug having another cylindrical part projecting from said barrel, a cup-shaped nosepiece having a cylindrical wall removably telescoped and frictionally held on said last named plug part and extending therebeyond away from said barrel, said cup-shaped portion of said nosepiece providing a chamber below said plug. there being an axial aperture extending completely through said plug to permit liquid flow from said reservoir to said chamber, a valve carried by said plug having a head normally closing the reservoir end of said aperture and having a stem extending through said aperture into said chamber, said stem being of less diameter than said aperture to provide a liquid flow passage, an annular collar on the lower end of said stem, a helical spring surrounding said stem between said collar and plug and biasing said valve head downwardly, the bottom wall of said cup-shaped nosepiece being pierced to provide a bore concentric with said axial aperture, a wick slidably inserted in said bore, the inner end of said Wick being in abutting engagement with said valve stem, and the outer end of said wick projecting outwardly from said bore, whereby inward pressure of said wick is adapted to unseat said valve.

2. A marking device as defined in claim 1 wherein said wick is provided with a sheathing sleeve of spring metal embracing its inner end and engaging said annular collar, said sleeve being longitudinally slotted to provide a plurality of spring fingers having portions engaging the wall of said bore for improved frictional contact within said bore.

JACK O. SOLDNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 752,078 La Burt et al Feb. 16, 1904 775,411 Wheeler Nov. 22, 1904 1,166,896 Garvey Jan. 4, 1916 1,523,332 Wright Jan. 13, 1925 1,857,467 Marsh May 10, 1932 2,029,152 Bonkowski Jan. 28, 1936 2,320,823 Kingson June 1, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 260,166 Great Britain Oct. 28, 1926 

